The dispute over an
environmental ballot question tossed by the Lehigh County Elections Board will
continue until at least Friday.

Lehigh County Judge Michele Varricchio continued arguments Wednesday
after waste-to-energy developer Delta Thermo Energy made a motion to intervene
in the case.

The ballot question, which was created with a citizens’
petition and forwarded to the elections board by Allentown City Council, would
have placed an ordinance before voters requiring real time monitoring of “new
air polluting facilities” and live disclosure of emissions data on a public
website. Emissions would have also be restricted to levels comparable to a
natural gas-burning power plant.

Petitioners organized the ballot
initiative in response to a plan to build a 48,000-square-foot waste-to-energy
plant on Allentown's Kline Island. The plant, which would be built by Bucks
County-based Delta Thermo Energy, would break down sewage sludge and shredded
trash in an industrial pressure cooker before burning the pulverized remains to
make electricity.

The proposed ordinance would make it
difficult or even impossible for the proposed Delta Thermo facility to operate.
In August, the Lehigh County Elections Board received the ballot
question from city officials with instructions to place the question on the November
ballot. The three-member board voted to
toss the initiative late that month, after hearing arguments from the petitioners
and Delta Thermo, because the Department of Environmental Protection had not
approved the contents of the proposed ordinance.

Varricchio began hearing the case Wednesday after a more
than hour-long conference with attorneys for the petitioners and the county.
Both parties have asked for an expedited decision. Ballots for the November
election are scheduled to be printed on Oct. 3.

As Varricchio reviewed the submissions before her, attorneys
from Delta Thermo made a plea to be included in the case, prompting an outburst
from a member of the restless audience gathered in the center city courtroom.

“Excuse me, is this allow your honor?” cried a student
sitting several rows back in the courtroom.